1. Field of the Invention
The invention is related to a container, preferably for makeup or cosmetics in general and small-quantity makeup-holding containers in particular. More specifically, the invention is related to an extremely portable and compact container attachable to a personal electronic device such as a cell phone or personal digital assistant (“PDA”) which can small products, including breath mints, pills, lip gloss, rouge, etc.
2. Description of Related Art
In many countries, the majority of the population carries at least one hand-held or otherwise portable electronic device, such as a cell phone, a PDA (e.g., a Blackberry® device, made by Research in Motion, Ltd., of Waterloo, Ontario, Canada, and/or an iPhone® cell-phone, made by Apple, Inc., of Cupertino, Calif.), or similar device which carries both their personal and business data (hereinafter collectively and generically “PDAs” or “personal electronic devices”). There has been a trend towards combining several functions of different types within the same device so as to minimize pocket or purse clutter and to make the products more integrated, useful and convenient. So-called “smart phones” with phone, message, calendar, internet access, camera functions, etc. are becoming more and more common. There has also been a trend to shrink the size of PDAs to make them as portable as possible, preferably pocket-sized (meaning, able to fit within the average person's pants pocket comfortably).
Of that majority of PDA users or carriers, roughly 50% are women. Women have been known to use cosmetics for hundreds, possibly thousands, of years. Women will not merely be content to apply cosmetics at the beginning of the day; many will typically apply and/or re-apply some form of cosmetics throughout the day, even when away from home or work. However, if one is out and about, it becomes cumbersome to carry a cell phone or PDA, a wallet for one's cash, credit cards, train passes, identification cards or badges, and the like, and containers of cosmetics as well. It is a further burden to also carry a mirror which can be helpful if not critical in the proper application of make-up and cosmetics. The greater the number of such items a person carries around, the bulkier the entire set of such necessities, the greater the likelihood that she will either forget one or more of the items at home, and the greater the likelihood that she will misplace one in a restaurant, bar, office, etc. Even were one not to lose or misplace anything, fumbling around looking for cosmetics and a mirror while holding a PDA or vice versa wastes time, is uncomfortable for the user, and reduces the “cool” factor of using today's most modern electronic components, the cutting edge PDA or smart phone. There is a long-felt need to somehow make carrying and applying cosmetics more convenient and efficient, especially for those who are already carrying a PDA or cell phone and may not wish to carry a purse or handbag to contain a variety of additional items (e.g., money, the PDA, cosmetics, a mirror, etc.). There is also a perceived need for a device securable to a PDA or smart phone which is a holding container for other small objects, e.g., pills, breath mints, bobby pins, earrings, etc.
Some progress has been attempted in this endeavor, however all previous attempts have been less than entirely successful.
A number of small cosmetic cases have been developed, e.g., those described in U.S. Pat. No. 1,800,230 to Rosenthal; U.S. Pat. No. 5,163,457 to Lombardi; and U.S. Pat. No. 5,337,890 to Lai. All of these are separate cosmetic cases that, while attempting to be extremely compact in nature, offer some relief to the problem mentioned above, i.e., of carrying a PDA and a cosmetics case. All of these are also provided with internal mirrors. However, that means that the user must take the step of opening the cosmetic-carrying case merely to see what one looks like, whether an application of cosmetics is required or not. Two prior attempts, U.S. Pat. No. 6,363,947 to Wu and U.S. Design Pat. No. D470,627 to Kuo disclose cosmetics cases in the shape of cell phones. These solve none of the problems mentioned above and indeed additionally may tend to confuse the user in a club or restaurant setting as to which pocket-sized device is her cell phone and which is her makeup case.
A few other attempts in this field teach a cell phone having an integral mirror or reflective surface on its case, and optionally a light source for use in conjunction with that mirror. Some examples of this category of device include U.S. Pat. No. 6,424,823 to Moles; US Patent Application Publication No. 2005/0277453 to Kim; and Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 2000-299719 to Horie et al. Like the abovementioned prior references, all of these teach an internal mirror that require the user to first take the step to open the device to access and use the mirror. Additionally, none of these teach any kind of cosmetics container; thus, a separate cosmetics container must be carried and inartfully handled while attempting to open and hold the mirror provided by one's cell phone.
There are also known cell phones having both an integral mirror and cosmetics holding compartments, such as those described in U.S. Pat. No. 6,311,077 to Bien and U.S. Pat. No. 7,146,184 to Tsitsiashvili. At the very least, one need not carry a separate cosmetics container with either of these devices. However, in both cases, the mirror is again internal to the casing so that the device must be opened to use the mirror and make even a determination whether cosmetics are required. Additionally, both of these cosmetic carrying devices are wholly integrated with the cell phone. This causes two problems. For one, it is likely impossible to use the cell phone while applying makeup. For another, people are extremely attached to their PDAs and do not want to have to purchase a different PDA or cell phone just to be able to have an integral cosmetics kit formed inside. It is especially onerous presently to switch out a cell phone from a wireless carrier and its tying contract, as many of the major wireless providers lock a user into a two-year contract with stiff early termination penalties.
Finally, there have been described at least two cosmetics containers that are separate from but attachable to existing cell phones, namely, U.S. Pat. No. 6,788,919 to Watanabe and International Patent Application Publication No. WO 2004/051968 to Napier-Clark. These are also flawed, for several reasons. First, in both cases, the cosmetics container is substantially the same size at the cell phone. Thus, even though the cosmetics case is attached to the cell phone, it is not really that convenient, as it adds nearly 100% of the overall profile of the cell phone to the cell phone. Put another way, using either of these devices is like carrying two cell phones' worth of weight and bulk, which fails to remain pocket-sized or comfortable at all. Second, in both cases, as above, the mirror is disposed in an internal portion of the housing, so that the housing must be opened in the manner of a conventional compact case to view one's appearance. This makes it difficult to answer a call or otherwise use the phone while applying makeup, and it requires some effort to view the mirror. Also, there does not seem to have been presented a solution to another problem which is anticipated, namely, replacement or swapping of cosmetics (or contained articles) in the case, from one day or event to the next. The present invention allows for a small tray containing the articles, e.g., breath mints, pills, saccharine tablets, pins, small earrings, etc., or cosmetics to be held and accessed from a container, attached to the rear of the cell phone or PDA, and of small size so as not to increase the overall size to an uncomfortable size, with a mirror easily available without opening first the compartment or the cosmetic case.